According to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
'Conflicts of interest occur when authors, reviewers, or editors have concerns that are not fully clear, and that may affect their decisions on whatever is published. They have been defined as those that would create a thoughtful reader feel misled or deceived when announced later.'
Conflicting interest might result from relationships, allegiances, or hostilities to particular groups, organizations, or interests, which may impact one's judgments or procedures excessively. When such claims are individual and/or may result in personal gain this can also arise the issue of competing interest.
Scholars, researchers, and professionals may have possible conflicts of interest that could impact – or could be seen to have an impact on- their research. Therefore, to exclude and clarify such situations all Lifescience Global journals require a precise declaration of conflicting interests, a statement that will be included the published article. Of note, this statement does not need to detail the financial methods of competing interests.
Declaration of any competing interests will certainly not be a cause of article discarding rather the articles will be judged honestly.
Instances of conflicts of interest might include the following, although it is not an exhaustive listing:
• Producing collected fees for advising.
• Holding obtained research funding.
• Having been applied by a relevant organization.
• Owning assets or shares in an organization that the publication of your paper might influence.
• Having acquired funds compensating you for visiting a relevant symposium or talk.
If there are some additional interests that the thoughtful reader might consider have changed your research, you may also require to declare them.
How to Make a Declaration?
Authors should include the Declaration of Conflicting Interests at the end of the manuscript after Acknowledgements and before the References under the heading 'Declaration of Conflicting Interest.' If no conflict exists, they must state that 'The Author(s) declare(s) no conflict of interest.'
Authors may find the following source helpful to get more information on Conflict of Interest procedures, Common Standard for Conflict of Interest Disclosure published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
